I owe this Palak Paneer recipe to Huma. She shared this recipe with me before she posted it on her blog and made me fall for it head over heels. I never liked making palak paneer before. If you see most of the recipes online, they involve a lot of steps. It makes you feel like making this humble dish is such a pain. But this recipe changed my whole thought process. This recipe is the second one to feature in this week’s theme of “Cooking for 2” in the Blogging Marathon #98. Paneer is something I have been eating every single day since last January, as a part of my protein intake. It is something that we Keralites never eat. I have already mentioned before on the blog that my family shares a mixed relationship with this ingredient. So I don’t cook it frequently. But for myself,…
Chocolate Biscuit Balls
After making the Pancakes and the Pizza Bites for the Blogging Marathon #98 theme “Kid’s Delight – Bites”, I was totally blank. It isn’t that my mind wasn’t without any ideas but somehow the ideas weren’t being converted into actions. It was really frustrating me to the core. That is when I was reminded of the pack of arrowroot biscuits umma had left and gone for the girls to eat. I had left it in the cupboard since it has all powdered up and eating it without messing up the house is out of question. So there were born these no-cook, super easy Chocolate Biscuit Balls. Sometimes I really wonder why I need to concentrate on posting such easy to make recipes, especially those that are no-cook. We are always looking at ideas which won’t take much time or effort on our part, but will still ensure us…
Mini Vegan Wholewheat Pancakes
I am coming back to the Blogging Marathon after a hiatus. Somehow, I have mentioned it before and still mention it – this series by Valli gives a much needed push when it comes to blogging. You may have noticed that ever since this year has started, I have been going slow on my posts purposely, since I don’t want blogging to become a burden for me. I must say that the move has helped me tremendously to relax and concentrate on other things in life. 😉 When I need the motivation, I know that this initiative by Valli will be there to get me pepped up. Can you believe that this month is #98? Wow… That’s a really long time… 🙂 For this week, I chose “Kid’s Delight – Snack and Bites”. You may have already seen my event declaration post a couple of days ago. Actually,…
Kadumaanga | Malabar Raw Mango Pickle
I don’t know how your relationship with your mom is. We have a totally different wavelength when it comes to thoughts, and can be at loggerheads at times. But does that make me not love her? Definitely not. She is my ticket to paradise, maybe more than my two daughters are. Didn’t the Prophet tell us that our Jannah (paradise) lies under our mother’s feet? This has become a good blackmail dialogue for every Muslim mother, and that includes me too. 😉 And then this hadith: A man came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship? The Prophet said: Your mother. The man said, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man asked again, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your…
How to make Panch Phoron | Bengali Mix Spice
Life never goes as per plan. Or is it actually supposed to? The Talbina post was scheduled so that it would just go up and I wouldn’t have to be bothered about putting up a post. Last Thursday was a day of sorts. I had as usual battled the traffic, muttering under my breath as I rushed to office already late. At 9:45 am, I got a call from D. “Why is he calling me now?” was my impulse. Usually after Fajr and Quran recitations, he sleeps from 8 to almost 10:30. I called him back. He informed that my brother’s father-in-law had passed away and he was in a dilemma how to tell my expecting sister-in-law. He wanted me to come as soon as I could. I quickly settled up all I had on my table and rushed out in 30 minutes. My mind was in a haze….
Talbina ~ Hot Barley Drink
I came across Talbina when I saw jars of a flour being sold in the Saudi pavillion at the Global Village. One store was giving samples of the prepared drink along with a leaflet, about how it is said to be Prophetic medicine and the history behind it. The drink was an off-white thick liquid, topped with toasted coconut and cinnamon and tasted amazing. But I was taken aback by the price of the mix and decided to dig in to find how I could make it. A little search landed me on a few links, including this one and this. The Prophet (PBUH) has recommended Talbina for physical as well as emotional pain. When I found that it is made of freshly ground barley flour, I decided to make some myself and stock it in my pantry. I lightly roasted the whole barley that you can buy…
Pomegranate Tea
I actually feel excited about doing today’s post. It is something that pushed me off my comfort zone. It may be a super simple recipe but the expectation and trepidation of how it would end up being was immense. 🙂 It is the tenth of the month, so it is time for the Muslim Food Blogger (MFB) Challenge. You can check out all the previous posts here. This month, we chose to cook with an ingredient and it was “Pomegranate”. “Rumaan” as it is called in Arabic is one of the fruits mentioned in the Quran. It is a fruit that awaits us in Jannah, InShaAllah… Have you looked at it and marveled at its beauty? At the way each pearl is placed inside, the sweet tartness that is unmatched with any other fruits… “In both of them are fruit and palm trees and pomegranates. So which of the…
Ishtu ~ Kerala Vegetable Stew
While I posted the Idiyappam/ Noolputtu recipe couple of months ago, I had hinted that I would post the Ishtu recipe too. It was peaking from behind, so it didn’t make sense to delay this post indefinitely. Hehe… After all the combination of these two is quite a hit… I always wonder why Ishtu is called so. I am sure it is the Malayalamized version of the English word “stew”. Can you see the connection? When umma would make this, I would always think that she is making fun of the name, but lately realized that she was saying its proper name. 😀 I guess we all would have thought of it that way some time in our life! Ishtu is basically a potato stew, made with minimal spices and coconut milk. It is very easy to make, but the spices added gives it such a delicious dimension. …
Chai Karak ~ Emirati Milk Tea
With the season chilled, the amount of tea that is drunk during the hours is humongous. I was hearing the number of thousands of cups of chai karak sold on a daily basis during the winter months in the UAE on radio and was literally shell shocked! You will see people who park a few feet away from the cafeteria, roll down their window, and gesture their index finger upwards to the staff watching out. You will then see him quickly running in and coming out with one cup of chai in a covered plastic tray and walking towards the car, so that the driver can enjoy his hot cup. We are pampered with instant services here, you see? 🙂 There are people who will buy in flasks, buy bigger cups (read me and D!) and ask for “without” (no sugar!). The atmosphere around a good tea selling…
Double Bean Sriracha Hummus
I had joined a challenge called “Recipe Swap” sometime back and participated in one challenge. But then, it just fizzled down and didn’t take off. In November, Mir took over the reins of the group and decided to kick-start the challenge. I decided to participate this month and thankfully there was enough time to cook the dish before my parents landed. Hehe… I was assigned Ali’s blog “Fix Me a Little Lunch“. She is a US based food blogger, and as mentioned in her blog, she tries to cook and eat food cooked from organic sources and at home. As is my nature, my first instance was to try a sweet recipe. So I hovered around a few like the Blueberry Peach Coffee Cake, the very intriguing Star Anise Pannacotta and these Mini Strawberry Chocolate Galette. But then I had already baked way too much sweet last month…
Vazhuthananga Upperi/ Mezhukupuratti ~ Malabar Eggplant Stir Fry
This month, I am joining up with a new challenge. I have joined it up more to push myself to blog. Every time, I feel that my creative juices are getting stuck, so such challenges are good enough to get me thinking out of the box. The posts I am scheduling this month seem to be majorly challenge posts too, hehe… Vidya and Jolly jointly conduct the A-Z Recipe Challenge, where the members cook from an alphabet every alternate month. The beauty of this challenge is you pick up an ingredient which starts with the concerned alphabet and cook with it. I had become a part of the group in October but waited till I would feel fine to join in. When the alphabet “E” was declared for January, I gave my name but I had forgotten that I would have my whole entourage at home and that would…
Flourless Chocolate Cake for One | Sugar Free
All the recipes that you have seen in the Bakeathon this month have either been made to treat my cousins, give to friends or colleagues, for my girls… In short, it was always for distribution. Don’t you think it is unfair if I don’t treat myself to something chocolaty when I have baked so much for everybody else? 😉 Here comes in the Flourless Chocolate Cake, that will serve only one. Yes, only one person, and that was me. I can’t explain the process of how I had to sneak bake this and eat this in between a weekend cooking mess in the kitchen. Especially, chocolate has this nasty habit of leaving off its aroma as it bakes. So my sniffy Azza kept coming in and peeping into the oven – I didn’t turn the lights on! – “Ummi, is something baking?” And I would just do my…